How the stage unfolded

After the exertions of Wednesday, when Froome claimed third on a mountain-top finish to take the race leader’s yellow jersey, the general classification riders were content to see a three-man breakaway go clear in the opening kilometre.

The trio of Vegard Stake Leangen (UAE Emirates), Perrig Quemeneur (Direct Energie) and Frederick Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) quickly established a lead of more than three minutes but with temperatures reaching 37C they toiled on the road to Troyes.

The peloton timed the catch to perfection, inside the final 3km, as the sprinters’ teams brought their riders to the fore.

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The race went past a giant Cross of Lorraine honouring former French president Charles de Gaulle in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises

Edvald Boasson Hagen, who would normally have been helping out Dimension Data team-mate Mark Cavendish, was given the freedom to sprint in the absence of the injured Manxman.

And the Norwegian chanced his arm from 700 metres out. However, he was easily caught.

French champion Demare tried squeezing down the right-hand side of the road, forcing his way through a gap and causing a Katusha-Alpecin rider to hesitate and then wave his arms in frustration.

His route to the line was not as straightforward as Kittel’s, who came off Demare’s wheel and rode unchallenged down the middle of the road.

“I am very proud of my team – they did a great job,” said the German after his 11th Tour stage win.

“We brought ourselves at the front on the key moment and kept me there. I started from a great position, a bit from behind, to see where I can go.”

When asked whether he had designs on winning the green points jersey, he replied: “For sure it is in my focus.”

The points classification has been won for the past five years by Peter Sagan but the Slovak’s disqualification for causing Cavendish’s race-ending crash on stage four has left the competition wide open.

Kittel picked up 56 points on the stage, 50 for winning and six for being 10th at the intermediate sprint, to move to 143.

He is still 27 behind FDJ rider Demare, who collected 30 for finishing second and a further 13 at the intermediate sprint.

Britain’s Daniel McLay of Fortuneo, who had three-top 10 stage finishes on his debut last year, was eighth in Troyes.

Friday’s stage seven is a 213.5km race from Troyes to Nuits-Saint-Georges, which is again expected to end in a bunch sprint.

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The riders will head south east on Friday as the race begins to head towards the Jura mountains